Accused of Blowing Up a Mailbox

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Washington

I am being accused with blowing up a mailbox with an IED in the state of Washington. They say that they have a confession from one of the defendants that says I was with him, however I have two witnesses that can confirm that i wasn't there.

What kind of charges could I be looking at, and do they have enough evidence to try and build a case against me?

Re: Accused of Blowing Up a Mailbox

You can't use Bruton, at least not yet. That says they can't use statements your codefendants made outside of court against you (for example the confession). However, if they testify against you in court, they Bruton doesn't apply.

They can get you for anything from simple vandalism up to felony violations of the state explosives act.
Keep your mouth shut until you have a lawyer.
This is likely serious.

Re: Accused of Blowing Up a Mailbox

Quoting flyingron

You can't use Bruton, at least not yet. That says they can't use statements your codefendants made outside of court against you (for example the confession). However, if they testify against you in court, they Bruton doesn't apply.

They can get you for anything from simple vandalism up to felony violations of the state explosives act.
Keep your mouth shut until you have a lawyer.
This is likely serious.

Don't forget "making a terroristic threat". Most people would find explosives used on their property as a terroristic act.

Re: Accused of Blowing Up a Mailbox

Quoting flyingron

You can't use Bruton, at least not yet. That says they can't use statements your codefendants made outside of court against you (for example the confession). However, if they testify against you in court, they Bruton doesn't apply.

They can get you for anything from simple vandalism up to felony violations of the state explosives act.
Keep your mouth shut until you have a lawyer.
This is likely serious.

If the person who confessed won't testify in court, do they have any grounds to prosecute me?

Re: Accused of Blowing Up a Mailbox

We have no way of knowing what evidence they have of your involvement.

Beyond that, they absolutely can charge you and prosecute you based upon the statement of the admitted perp, and leave you to hope that he in fact doesn't show up to testify at trial. If they're planning to use his testimony, they may include the requirement that he testify in any plea deal they make with him; that can be used to attack his credibility at trial, but can also be used by them to toss him in prison if he doesn't appear to testify.

Re: Accused of Blowing Up a Mailbox

Quoting aaron

We have no way of knowing what evidence they have of your involvement.

Beyond that, they absolutely can charge you and prosecute you based upon the statement of the admitted perp, and leave you to hope that he in fact doesn't show up to testify at trial. If they're planning to use his testimony, they may include the requirement that he testify in any plea deal they make with him; that can be used to attack his credibility at trial, but can also be used by them to toss him in prison if he doesn't appear to testify.

So if the perp refuses to testify in court they can use that to put him in prison?

Re: Accused of Blowing Up a Mailbox

Don't forget "making a terroristic threat". Most people would find explosives used on their property as a terroristic act.

Terrorism via explosvive device is covered in the state explosives act.

Bruton says they can't use the extrajudicial (outside of court) statements of another charged person against you. Even if he was just a witness, generally the hearsay rules bar the use of those sort of statements in court. It mostly revolves aroundt he right to crossexamine witnesses.

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